English
According to this interpretation the Atharva-Veda is entitled to be included within Yajus, and this explains the references to the three Vedas. The Atharva-Veda is referred to in the Gopatha- Bradhmana, 11. 16 as Brahma-Veda, and two different reasons are adduced. Firstly, it is said that the Atharva-Veda was produced by the ascetic penances of Brahman ; secondly it is suggested in the Gopatha-Brahmana that all Atharvanic hymns are curative (bhesaja), and whatever is curative is immortal, and whatever is immortal is Brahman— Ye ’tharvanas tad bhesajam, yad bhesajam tad amrtam, yad amrtam tad Brahma.’ Gopatha-brahmana, 111. 4. See also Nyaya-mafijari, pp. 250-261. XIII] Ayur-veda and the Atharva-Veda 281 of India was there any time when people did not take to charms and incantations for curing diseases or repelling calamities and injuring enemies. The Rg-Veda itself may be regarded in a large measure as a special development of such magic rites. The hold of the Atharvanic charms on the mind of the people was prob- ably very strong, since they had occasion to use them in all their daily concerns. Even now, when the Rg-Vedic sacrifices have become extremely rare, the use of Atharvanic charms and of their descendants, the Tantric charms of comparatively later times, is very common amongst all classes of Hindus. A very large part of the income of the priestly class is derived from the performance of auspicious rites (svastyayana), purificatory penances (prayas- citta), and oblations (homa) for curing chronic and serious illnesses, winning a law-suit, alleviating sufferings, securing a male issue to the family, cursing an enemy, and the like. Amulets are used almost as freely as they were three or four thousand years ago, and snake-charms and charms for dog-bite and others are still things which the medical people find it difficult to combat. Faith in the mysterious powers of occult rites and charms forms an essential feature of the popular Hindu mind and it oftentimes takes the place of religion in the ordinary Hindu household. It may there- fore be presumed that a good number of Atharvanic hymns were current when most of the Rg-Vedic hymns were not yet composed. By the time, however, that the Atharva-Veda was compiled in its present form some new hymns were incorporated with it, the philosophic character of which does not tally with the outlook of the majority of the hymns. The Atharva-Veda, as Sayana points out in the introduction to his commentary, was indispensable to kings for warding off their enemies and securing many other advantages, and the royal priests had to be versed in the Atharvanic practices. These practices were mostly for the alleviation of the troubles of an ordinary householder, and ac- cordingly the Grhya-siitras draw largely from them. The oldest name of the Atharva-Veda is Atharvangirasah, and this generally suggested a twofold division of it into hymns attributed to Atharvan and others attributed to Angiras; the former dealt with the holy (Santa), promoting of welfare (paustika) and the curatives (bhesajanzt), and the latter with offensive rites for molesting an enemy (abhi- ' carika), also called terrible (ghora). The purposes which the Athar- vanic charms were supposed to fulfil were numerous. These may 282 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. be briefly summed up in accordance with the Kaustka-sitra as follows : quickening of intelligence, accomplishment of the virtues of a Brahmacarin (religious student); acquisition of villages, cities, fortresses and kingdoms, of cattle, riches, food grains, children, wives, elephants, horses, chariots, etc.; production of unanimity (aikamatya) and contentment among the people; frightening the elephants of enemies, winning a battle, warding off all kinds of weapons, stupefying, frightening and ruining the enemy army, encouraging and protecting one’s own army, knowing the future result of a battle, winning the minds of generals and chief persons, throwing a charmed snare, sword, or string into the fields where the enemy army may be moving, ascending a chariot for winning a battle, charming all instruments of war music, killing enemies, winning back a lost city demolished by the enemy; performing the coronation ceremony, expiating sins, cursing, strengthening cows, procuring prosperity; amulets for promoting welfare, agriculture, the conditions of bulls, bringing about various household properties, making a new-built house auspicious, letting loose a bull (as a part of the general rites—sraddha), performing the rites of the harvesting month of Agrahayana (the middle of November to the middle of December); securing curatives for various otherwise incurable diseases produced by the sins of past life; curing all diseases generally, Fever, Cholera, and Diabetes; stopping the flow of blood from wounds caused by injuries from weapons, preventing epileptic fits and possession by the different species of evil spirits, such as the bhita, pisaca, Brahma-raksasa, etc.; curing vata, pitta and slesman, heart diseases, Jaundice, white leprosy, different kinds of Fever, Pthisis, Dropsy; curing worms in cows and horses, providing antidotes against all kinds of poisons, supplying curatives for the diseases of the head, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, neck and inflammation of the neck; warding off the evil effects of a Brahmin’s curse; arranging women’s rites for securing sons, securing easy delivery and the welfare of the foetus; securing prosperity, appeasing a king’s anger, know- ledge of future success or failure; stopping too much rain and thunder, winning in debates and stopping brawls, making rivers flow according to one’s wish, securing rain, winning in gambling, securing the welfare of cattle and horses, securing large gains in trade, stopping inauspicious marks in women, performing auspicious rites for a new house, removing the sins of prohibited xT] Ayur-veda and the Atharva-Veda 283 acceptance of gifts and prohibited priestly services; preventing bad dreams, removing the evil effects of unlucky stars under whose influence an infant may have been born, paying off debts, removing the evils of bad omens, molesting an enemy; counteracting the molesting influence of the charms of an enemy, performing aus- Picious rites, securing long life, performing the ceremonies at birth, naming, tonsure, the wearing of holy thread, marriage, etc.; per- forming funeral rites, warding off calamities due to the disturbance of nature, such as rain of dust, blood, etc., the appearance of yaksas, raksasas, etc., earthquakes, the appearance of comets, and eclipses of the sun and moon. The above long list of advantages which can be secured by the performance of Atharvanic rites gives us a picture of the time when these Atharvanic charms were used. Whether all these functions were discovered when first the Atharvanic verses were composed is more than can be definitely ascertained. At present the evidence we possess is limited to that supplied by the Kausika-siitra. Ac- cording to the Indian tradition accepted by Sayana the compila- tion of the Atharva-Veda was current in nine different collections, the readings of which differed more or less from one another. These different recensions, or sakhas, were Paippalada, Tanda, Manda, Saunakiya, Jajala, Jalada, Brahmavada, Devadarsa, and Carana- vaidya. Of these only the Paippalada and Saunakiya recensions are available. The Paippalada recension exists only in a single un- published Tiibingen manuscript first discovered by Roth?. It has been edited in facsimile and partly also in print. The Sauna- kiya recension is what is now available in print. The Saunakiya school has the Gopatha-brahmana as its Brahmana and five siitra works, viz. Kausika, Vaitana, Naksatra-kalpa, Angirasa- kalpa and Santi-kalpa®; these are also known as the five kalpas (patica-kalpa). Of these the Kaustka-siitra is probably the earliest and most important, since all the other four depend upon it?. The Naksatra-kalpa and Santi-kalpa are more or less of an astro- logical character. No manuscript of the Argirasa-kalpa seems to be available; but from the brief notice of Sdyana it appears to 1 Der Atharvaveda in Kashmir by Roth. 2 The Kausika-sitra is also known as Samhitd-vidhi and Samhita-kalpa. The three kalpas, Naksatra, Angirasa and Santi, are actually Parisistas. 3 >4atra Sakalyena samhita-mantranam santika-paustikadisu karmasu viniyoga- vidhanat samhita-vidhir nama Kausikam sitram; tad eva itarair upajivyatvat. Upodhghata of Sayana to the Atharva-Veda, p. 25. 284 Speculations in the Medical Schools [cH. have been a manual for molesting one’s enemies (abhicara-karma). The Vaitana-sitra dealt with some sacrificial and ritualistic details. The Kausika-siitra was commented on by Darila, Kesava, Bhadra and Rudra. The existence of the Carana-vaidya (wandering medical practitioners) sakha reveals to us the particular sakha of the Atharva-Veda, which probably formed the old Ayur-veda of the Atreya-Caraka school, who identified the Atharva-Veda with Ayur-veda. The suggestion, contained in the word Carana-vaidya, that the medical practitioners of those days went about from place to place, and that the sufferers on hearing of the arrival of such persons approached them, and sought their help, is interesting’. Bones in the Atharva-Veda and Ayur-veda. The main interest of the present chapter is in that part of the Atharva-Veda which deals with curative instructions, and for this the Kausika-siitra has to be taken as the principal guide. Let us first start with the anatomical features of the Atharva-Veda*. The ‘bones counted are as follows: 1. heels (parsni, in the dual number, in the two feet)?; 2.